LYME/OLD LYME — The Daily Data Report for Connecticut issued Thursday, Aug. 19, by the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT-DPH) for data as at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 18, shows the latest average daily rate of new cases of COVID-19 by town during the past two weeks (see map above.)
The map paints a grim picture clearly reflecting the national surge in COVID-19 cases with 73 towns now in the Red Zone, which is up from 39 a week ago on Aug. 12, and six on Aug. 5. See detailed description of the zones in italics below. These significant increases are due primarily to the increased contagiousness of the Delta Variant.
This latest report shows that Fairfield County now joins New London, New Haven, Middlesex, and Hartford Counties as “high” transmission areas. The latter four were already listed in that category last week.
Old Lyme is back in the Orange (second highest case rate) Zone with a two-week case rate per 100,000 of 11.7. Other towns in the Orange Zone, which are within the Ledge Light Health District (LLHD), are East Lyme (10.4) and Stonington (12.7).
Almost 50 towns in the state remain in the Orange Zone, which is around the same number as last week including non-LLHD members Westbrook, Old Saybrook, Chester, and Salem locally.
Towns in the Red Zone in the LLHD are Groton – Town & City (15.6), New London (26.3), Ledyard (21.0), and North Stonington (17.9). Locally, Norwich and Waterford are also categorized as red, but they are not in the LLHD.
Less than 20 Connecticut towns are now in the Yellow (second lowest) Zone down from 40 last week. Locally, these include including Deep River, Essex and East Haddam.
The remaining 20 towns in the state, including Lyme, are in the Gray (lowest rate) Zone. This is the 22nd straight week for Lyme in the Gray Zone.
- The Gray category is defined as when the Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population By Town is less than five or less than five reported cases.
- The Yellow category is defined as when the Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population By Town is between five and nine reported cases.
- The Orange category is defined as when the Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population By Town is between 10 and 14.
- The Red category is defined as when the Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population By Town exceeds 15.
- In all cases, this rate does not include cases or tests among residents of nursing home, assisted living, or correctional facilities.
No New Cases in Lyme, Old Lyme Since Tuesday
The Daily Data Report issued Thursday, Aug. 19, by the Connecticut Department of Health (CT DPH) shows that neither Lyme nor Old Lyme has reported any new, confirmed COVID-19 case since the previous CT DPH report issued Tuesday, Aug. 17.
This means Old Lyme’s cumulative total of confirmed cases remains at 367 while Lyme’s cumulative total holds at 114.
Weekly Report from Ledge Light Health District (LLHD)
Stephen Mansfield, LLHD Director of Health, prefaced the weekly LLHD report sent out yesterday, Aug. 19, with these words, “As noted in the data, we continue to see a significant increase in new cases in most of our municipalities.”
He added, “Although we are making great strides with our COVID vaccination program, it is imperative that we remain diligent in our mitigation strategies. We strongly advise everyone to wear masks indoors in public settings, regardless of vaccination status”
Mansfield noted in addition, “LLHD encourages everyone 12 and older to get vaccinated. Information regarding vaccination opportunities and other relevant information can be found at Ledge Light Health District | Promoting Healthy Communities (llhd.org)
Vaccination Rates
Vaccination rates in Lyme and Old Lyme are encouraging with 83.51 percent of the population in Lyme having received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and the equivalent number for Old Lyme being 75.57 percent.
Percentages for the fully vaccinated are 80.4 for Lyme and 71.79 for Old Lyme.
These rates remain among the higher percentages in the state.
COVID-19 Cases Over Time: Dec. 2020-Aug. 2021
The following maps show has the picture of COVID-19 cases has gone from an almost totally red map back in Dec. 2020 to an almost all-gray map on June 17, 2021 and then back to a map with all colors represented in substantial number again.
The map below is from Aug. 12 and shows that Old Lyme had fallen out of the Orange (second highest case rate) Zone into the Yellow (second lowest) Zone — but only by a fraction. Old Lyme’s two-week case rate per 100,000 was 9.8 — if it were 10.0, then it would have still been in the Orange Zone.
Towns in the Red Zone, which are within the Ledge Light Health District (LLHD), included New London, Ledyard, Stonington and North Stonington. Locally, Norwich and Waterford were also categorized as red, but they are not in the LLHD.
Other towns in the red category included Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Cheshire, East Haven, Easton, Hartford, Meriden, Middletown, New Britain, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Norwich, Plymouth, Stamford, Thomaston and Waterbury. At least three of these towns — Easton, Hartford and Thomaston — were in the Red Zone for the second consecutive week.
Almost 50 towns were in the Orange (second highest case rate) Zone — up from 33 the previous week — including Westbrook and Salem locally.
Old Lyme joined the Yellow (second lowest) Zone along with around 40 other Connecticut towns, including Old Saybrook, East Lyme, and Essex.
All remaining towns in the state, including Lyme, along with Deep River and Chester, were in the Gray (lowest rate) Zone. This was the 21st straight week for Lyme in the Gray Zone.
The map below is from Aug. 5 when six towns were in the Red (highest case rate) Zone (the previous week’s number was four) and 33 in the Orange (second highest case rate) Zone — the previous week’s number was four.
The towns in the Red Zone were East Hampton, Easton, Hampton, Hartford, Hartland, North Stonington*, and Thomaston.
There were 33 towns in the Orange Zone including Old Lyme, Waterford, New London, Groton, Ledyard and Stonington, all of which are in the Ledge Light Health District, as are the towns denoted with an * in the other zones.
East Lyme* had reentered the Yellow (second lowest) Zone along with more than 50 other Connecticut towns.
All remaining towns in the state, including Lyme*, were in the Gray (lowest rate) Zone. This was the 20th straight week for Lyme in the Gray Zone.
The map below is from July 29, when four towns were in the Red Zone –Harland, Salem, Bozrah and Sprague — and four towns were in the Orange Zone — Easton, East Hampton, Ledyard and Thompson.
Old Lyme had reentered the Yellow (second lowest) Zone along with more than 50 other Connecticut towns. All remaining towns in the state, including Lyme, were in the Gray (lowest rate) Zone. This was the 19th straight week for Lyme in the Gray Zone.
The map below is from July 22, when two towns, Franklin and Salem, were in the Red Zone (indicating the highest rate of COVID-19 new cases), which is up one from the previous week, and Andover remained in the (second highest rate) Orange Zone (down from two towns last week.)
Eight towns were in the Yellow Zone (indicating the lowest but one rate of COVID-19 new cases), which is up from two last week. They were Clinton, East Hampton, Manchester, Newington, Stonington, Westbrook, Windsor and Windsor Locks.
The map below is from July 15, when one town, Franklin, was in the Red Zone (indicating the highest rate of COVID-19 new cases) and another two, Salem and Andover, were in the (second highest rate) Orange Zone. New Hartford and Griswold were in the Yellow Zone (indicating the lowest but one rate of COVID-19 new cases.)
The map below is from July 8, when New Hartford was the sole town in the Yellow Zone.
The map below is from July 1, when Marlborough and Prospect were in the Yellow Zone.
The map below is from June 24, when Somers, Prospect and Bolton were in the Yellow Zone.
This is the June 17 map, when just one town, Bolton, was in the Yellow Zone.
For comparison, the map below is from June 3 and shows one town, Waterbury, in the Orange Zone and 21 towns in the Yellow Zone, down from 48 the previous week. The towns in the Yellow Zone were: Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bloomfield, Brooklyn, Coventry, Cromwell, Derby, East Hartford, East Haven, Granby, Hamden, Hartford, Manchester, New Britain, New Haven, New London, Putnam, Rocky Hill, Shelton, Waterford and Windsor.
Below is the map from May 27 that showed one town in the Red Zone, Putnam, and 10 towns in the Orange Zone.
Compare the maps above with the one we published Dec. 18, 2020 to see the remarkable progress that has been made with controlling the spread of the virus through expansion of vaccination rates and improved mitigation strategies.
The following link provides centralized access to Connecticut COVID data: https://data.ct.gov/stories/s/COVID-19-data/wa3g-tfvc/